Zimbabwe is mourning the death of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo.

The government said the country's top diplomat died Wednesday after contracting COVID-19.

Moyo gained international notoriety as an army general, becoming the spokesperson of the 2017 coup that ousted longtime President Robert Mugabe, who was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Moyo is the third cabinet minister to succumb to COVID-19 in the past six months.

Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Ellen Gwaradzimba died last week, and Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri died of the disease in July.

The 61-year-old Moyo was reportedly getting weekly treatment for a kidney ailment at the time of his death.

COVID-19 infections and deaths are on the rise in Zimbabwe, with more than 16,000 new infections and 505 deaths in the past month, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

VOA